LIVINGSTON got their Premier Sports Cup campaign off to a winning start against Albion Rovers.

David Martindale’s side emerged 3-2 winners in a hard-fought encounter.

But he wasn’t happy with negative aspects of the match, as the gaffer revealed more reinforcements are a certainty.

He said: “I think that’s four of the last five goals I can probably apportion blame to an individual.

“We’re sitting looking at the negatives when we should focus on the positives. But we gave them a chance. Fair play to them, we didn’t defend our box for two crosses.

“I thought we played some alright football at times. It’s really hard when you face a low block – I do it to other teams.

“I think we got in-behind them enough, I think the quality in the final third could’ve been a bit better but you expect that in pre-season.

“It’s a learning curve for the foreign boys coming in because there’s going to be more of that with better quality.

“There will be a few coming in now. I’m not going to lie to you, I was pretty happy with what I had.

“Then you look at the Morton game, Linlithgow and today. I think it’s fairly evident where I need to get my finger out.

“I need to do better. I know where we’re a little bit short. I need to help the group out.

“I’m quietly going about something that’s hopefully going to help us in a few areas of the park. I’ve identified that and I’m looking to rectify that over the next seven to ten days.”

Scott Pittman opened the scoring inside four-minutes. A lovely ball down the left allowed James Penrice to get in-behind, he lifted a cross into the box for the midfielder to place a header into the top corner.

Livi doubled their lead on 20-minutes. Penrice was involved again. The left-back cut inside as he tried to place a shot in the far corner. This was parried away, but the danger was still alive, as was Josh Mullin who fired home.

At the break, new boy Dylan Bahamboula – who joined from Oldham – came on for Joel Nouble. Bruce Anderson also entered the field for Mullin.

It took Anderson just two-minutes to get on the scoresheet to make it three, as he poked home after a scramble in the box.

Albion managed to peg their Premiership opponents back. A free-kick delivery was fumbled by keeper Ivan Konovalov, with Aryton Sonkur alert to tap home.

Michael Paton then really sparked the game into life as he scored with a thunderous volley.

Albion made a good fist of it, but Livi saw out to earn three-points.